I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter-Chapter 265

“......So he really does like her.”

Prince Chrisetos muttered as he set his teacup down.

“Oh my, who?”

“The Voreoti Duke’s daughter.”

“You like the Duke’s daughter?”

Empress Tigria gasped and dropped the cookie in her hand. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

To the Empress, who had finally been enjoying a peaceful tea time alone with her eldest son for the first time in a while, this was like a bolt from the blue.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed by the Duke of Voreoti!?”

“Not me! I have preferences too!”

Prince Chrisetos quickly protested, adding that he wasn’t into women who basically shouted, ‘I’m a pervert!’

“I’m talking about Skan.”

“Skan? Your brother?”

“Yes, Your Majesty’s second son.”

“Oh my...”

The Empress let out a sympathetic sigh.

“Just recently, the Duke of Voreoti said he only needs the seed when it comes to his daughter...”

The face Ferio made when he said that was more terrifying than a reaper coming to take someone’s life.

If a reaper had seen that face, they might have dropped their scythe on the spot.

“And this mother had no idea?”

The Empress narrowed her eyes, as if blaming them for keeping secrets. The Prince quickly denied it.

“You know Skan never shares what he’s thinking.”

He admitted that he himself had only just recently caught on.

The realization that his younger brother had feelings for Leonia had come as quite the shock.

Still, there had been hints.

“You know that wristwatch he always wears?”

“Now that you mention it...”

Despite not being fond of accessories, the Princess had always had that wristwatch on her wrist for some time now.

“Mother, that watch was a gift from the Duke’s daughter.”

“Really? What in the world...”

“Exactly! What in the world?”

The mother and son fussed together like it was the biggest scandal in the world.

The Empress was so genuinely shocked that she kept drinking her tea without pause.

“Come to think of it, the Duke’s family was scheduled to use the palace Gate today.”

The Empress looked out the window. By now, the Voreoti carriage should have entered the palace and be heading toward the Gate.

“Skan might go see them off.”

“Is he really that into the Duke’s daughter?”

“The Duke’s daughter seems to care quite a bit about Skan too.”

“Well, of course she should.”

The Empress proudly asserted that her second son was the most beautiful of all thanks to inheriting her looks.

“Still, this has become a bit troublesome.”

“Oh, is it because of the imperial ban on marriages with the Voreoti family?”

“Skan isn’t subject to that.”

Since Princess Scandia didn’t have imperial blood, a marriage with the Voreoti family was possible.

What troubled the Empress was that her second son might no longer be able to become the next Marquis of Hesperi.

“After all that work I put into teaching him...”

It was frustrating to think all her efforts would go to waste.

The thought of sending her well-raised son off to the North left a bitter taste in her mouth.

“All this effort, only for someone else to benefit.”

“So, do you approve of Skan’s love?”

“Approve or not...”

The Empress had no desire to interfere in her son’s romance.

Having suffered from such interference herself for so long, she had even less inclination to meddle.

Besides, the Empress didn’t think she could win against the Voreotis.

“To be honest, I find the Duke’s daughter scarier than the Duke himself.”

She still remembered the shocking things Leonia had said.

“Your brother said he met her once when they were little, and just from her bone structure, he thought she was a boy.”

“When was that?”

“Skan was nine at the time.”

“...So I have to discuss national affairs with such a monster.”

The Prince clutched his forehead, and the Empress gave him a wry smile.

“Prince, never show that honest heart of yours in front of the other nobles.”

The Empress was terribly worried about her overly human eldest son.

She feared he might one day get dragged around helplessly because he was scared of Leonia.

“But what do you think Father will say?”

Now slightly recovered, Prince Chrisetos became curious about Ibecks’s thoughts.

“Who knows...”

The Empress lightly shrugged, saying she wasn’t sure either.

However, considering how identical Ibecks and his daughter were in personality, she was certain he would sincerely support his second son’s love.

After all, he was also a victim, just like the Empress.

“But if it’s the Duke’s daughter, it’s not bad.”

Objectively speaking, the Voreoti family’s status was far greater.

One of only two ducal houses in the empire, and it had never fallen from power in all of history.

‘Maybe this is a good chance to tie the West and the North together.’

From a strategic standpoint, this was a massive opportunity for the West. The closer they were to the North, the better.

‘Perhaps the next Marquis of Hesperi will carry Voreoti blood...’

Empress Tigria, who once almost became the Marchioness of Hesperi herself, busied her mind with thoughts of political gain.

But soon, she fell into a familiar pit of despair, wondering what use any of it was.

They were forgetting something truly important.

“All this idle chatter is worthless in the end.”

“Then what is important?”

The Prince asked, and the Empress replied with a bitter tone.

“That Skan survives the Duke.”

The Duke of Voreoti, who loved his daughter so much he claimed all he needed was her seed rather than a man, was the worst obstacle of all.

“Ah...”

The Prince let out a heavy sigh.

Mother and son both shuddered as they recalled the terrifying love-struck face of the Duke of Voreoti.

***

The carriage adorned with the black beast symbol of House Voreoti departed for the Imperial Palace.

“See you later!”

Leonia leaned out the window, waving enthusiastically.

The servants, including Tra who had come to see her off, remained standing until the carriage disappeared from view.

Leonia only stopped waving once the estate and servants had fully vanished from sight.

“Ah... Now we’re heading back North...”

Back in her seat, the little beast wore a pouty expression.

“You whined so much about wanting to go back North.”

Ferio scoffed, brushing aside her bangs with his hand.

“I didn’t whine.”

“You did whine.”

“Yes, you definitely whined,” Varia agreed, nodding.

The child’s lips pouted in protest but quickly returned to normal.

“Hey, Leo...”

Varia turned to Leonia with a question.

“Did you meet Her Highness, the Princess?”

The word ‘Princess’ made a flicker of cold light flash through Ferio’s eyes. His ears perked up noticeably.

“Thanks to Mom, I met her safely.”

“That’s good. I’m glad Her Highness even came to greet you, so kind—”

“Leonia.”

Ferio called his daughter by name, clearly displeased.

“That damn cross-dresser, what the hell did—”

“Ferio.”

Varia cut him off and placed a hand over her stomach.

“Muscles can hear you.”

“Yeah! My baby brother can hear everything!”

Leonia placed her hand gently on her mother’s stomach and shot her father a wicked smile. Nothing pleased her more than watching her dad get scolded.

“...That cross-dressing brat.”

Ferio corrected himself with a sneer in Leonia’s direction.

“What did he do to you?”

“Nothing much?”

“If anything, Leo’s the one who’d make a move...”

“Mom, you do know me well!”

Leonia grinned brightly.

Still, sensing her father was being overly sensitive, she went ahead and shared what had happened with the princess.

“She just wished me a safe trip and asked if she could write to me, so I said okay.”

“Letters...”

Ferio quietly resolved that once they returned to the North, he would instruct Kara to make sure all letters addressed to Leonia passed through him first.

This winter, the fireplace was going to burn brighter than ever before.

“Dear...”

And Varia looked at her husband with a trace of pity.

He was perfectly sane—until the moment anything involving their daughter’s love life came up, and then all the screws came loose.

Even so, Varia didn’t dislike that about Ferio.

The fact that the man everyone feared was such a normal husband and father at home made her genuinely happy.

The carriage soon arrived at the Imperial Palace.

At the Empress’s orders, the palace attendants guided the Voreoti carriage through and kindly directed them to the Gate’s path.

“......”

Leonia stared out the window intently.

“Looking for someone?”

Ferio narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

“Nope. Just sightseeing.”

“Sit up straight. You’re slouching.”

“That nagging again...”

“You nag me not to cross my legs—same thing.”

“What a bunch of excuses...”

Still grumbling, Leonia sat up straight.

Varia giggled for a while at the father-daughter bickering. It °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was a truly peaceful moment.

“Still, I thought she’d come see us off.”

Watching out the window with her, Varia wore a faintly lonely expression. Leonia comforted her mother, whose face looked even more disappointed than hers.

“It’s okay. We already said goodbye earlier. Clinging too much is uncool.”

“Cross-dressing people are uncool.”

“Well, I happen to like that, so.”

“Should’ve raised your conscience instead of your inner child...”

Ferio sighed, defeated once again by Leonia’s devoted and loyal tastes.

He regretted not nurturing the sliver of conscience she barely had instead of her nonexistent innocence.

“Ooh! The Northern Gate!”

But Leonia’s attention had already shifted to the Gate looming ahead of their carriage.

She was practically bouncing at the thought that her family would be the first to use a Gate that hadn’t been opened since the Empire was founded.

“We won’t suddenly arrive in the Northern Mountains, right?”

Varia was a little nervous about crossing the Gate.

“Unless we want to go there, it won’t happen. Just relax.”

“Ferio...!”

“With me by your side, what’s there to worry about?”

“Ugh, seriously...”

Gross.

Annoyed by the atmosphere that always seemed seconds away from turning into a bedroom scene whenever her parents made eye contact, Leonia rested her chin on the windowsill and turned her gaze away.

‘...Hmph.’

But the little beast’s reflection in the glass wore a wicked smirk.

“Oh, right.”

Just before the carriage passed through the Gate—

“Dad, Mom.”

Leonia called to her parents in her usual bright tone.

In the short time she’d looked away from them, they’d already exchanged kisses three or four times.

Normally, she would’ve grumbled, asking what the hell they were doing and telling them if they were going to do it, at least add some tongue for her emotional development.

But there was no need anymore.

“I forgot to say something earlier.”

Leonia finally shared what she hadn’t mentioned before.

“I kissed Her Highness, the Princess!”

The air inside the carriage turned cold. They had just crossed into the North, and the temperature had dropped drastically.

By now, the North had moved beyond autumn and was nearing winter.

But Varia was certain.

This atmosphere in the carriage had nothing to do with the weather outside.

“Our puff-puff knight really stole my heart! I think I was falling for her without realizing. So I just gave her a big kiss on the lips!”

Their daughter’s shameless announcement.

“......”

Her father’s silent dread.

“Agh...”

Her mother, who could only watch in despair.

It was just another ordinary day for the Voreoti family.

[I Became the Male Lead’s Adopted Daughter – The End]